Rolling Stone magazine has named “Art of Rap” as one of the ten best music films at the Sundance 2012 Film Festival. Ice-T’s new documentary on the “Art of Rap” premiered at Sundance on January 21. Ron Chapple, Aerial Director of Photography, filmed the New York City and Los Angeles scenes while Gray Mitchell of Aerial Filmworks was the camera operator for the Detroit sequence. Aerial Filmworks provided the complete Cineflex V14HD camera system and Sony SRW1 HDCAM SR record deck.

Directed by Ice-T and produced by Paul Toogood, the aerial crew worked with Director of Photography Andy Baybutt to create the unique aerial look.

Director of Photography Andy Baybutt during aerial filming.

New York City aerial from Bell 206-L3 Long Ranger helicopter provided by Mercury Aviation and flown by Film Pilot Coyt Bailey.

Los Angeles aerial from Bell 206-B3 Jet Ranger helicopter provided by Corporate Helicopters and flown by Film Pilot Garner Shepherd.

Sunset scene from “Art of Rap” Documentary by Ice-T. Filmed with Cineflex V14HD.

More Articles and Reviews

Rolling Stone Magazine: The Ten Best Music Films at Sundance 2012

Movie Line: Ice-T, Director, Talks Sundance Hip-Hop Doc

Sundance 2012 Film Guide

This Beat Goes: Ice-T Talks About “The Art of Rap”

The Salt Lake Tribune: Lifestyle

Rap Radar: Ice-T Speaks On Art of Rap Documentary

Billboard Exclusive: Watch Ice-T Discuss His ‘Art of Rap’ Documentary

Hip Hop DX

The Hollywood Reporter: Sundance 2012: Ice-T Talks Filmmaking and His Festival Debut (Q&A)

Film Threat: Something From Nothing: The Art of Rap

Aerial Filmworks is a division of Ron Chapple Studios. Visit the Aerial Filmworks web site.

National Geographic Television contracted Aerial Filmworks to produce HD video of fall color in the North Carolina and Georgia mountains. Gray Mitchell and crew rigged the Cineflex V14HD and Fujinon 13x 4.5mm wide lens kit to the Cinetruck and crane. With a reach of 22 feet and a height of 25 feet, the Cineflex could reach deep into the forest and sweep over mountain streams.

The Cineflex Creates the “The Endless Dolly” Move From Vehicles

The Cineflex V14HD is a gyro-stabilized remote head. While used mostly for aerials, the Aerial Filmwork’s crew has built specialty mounts for trucks and four-wheel drive vehicles. Clients are increasing taking advantage of the unique look created by the smooth motion of the Cineflex gyro-stabilization. Aerial Filmworks provides all the equipment, drivers and crane operators for the Cinetruck.

Aerial Filmworks is a division of Ron Chapple Studios. Visit the Aerial Filmworks web site.

Aerial Filmworks, a division of Ron Chapple Studios, had the privilege of working with the BBC to provide aerials for the Naked Earth series. Filming included air-to-air of an Agusta 109 lifting off from the center of California Memorial Stadium in Berkeley, and other locations along the Hayward and San Andreas faults.

Series Producer Lucy Van Beek and Aerial DP Ron Chapple worked with the Cineflex V14HD in the camera ship, while the BBC crew filmed an interview from inside the Agusta 109 with Roland Burgmann, the UC Berkeley Professor of Earth and Planetary Science.

Aerial Filmworks provided support for the helicopter and ground logistics.

Aerial Filmworks delivered all of the aerials for “Swamp People“, the new hit show on History Channel. Gray Mitchell was the Aerial Director of Photography and Cineflex Operator on Season One and Ron Chapple just completed filming for Season Two.

Coyt Bailey, film pilot and owner of Mercury Aviation provided a Bell 206L3 Long Ranger for the extensive filming sessions throughout southern Louisiana.

Update

Season #3 filming has just been completed! Gray Mitchell flew 28 hours with the Cineflex V14HD filming the new stories for the 2012 season of Swamp People.

Aerial Filmworks worked with White Sands National Monument to film aerials of the spectacular landscape for their upcoming new visitor film. Tim Dilworth directed the shoot for Henninger Media. All of the Park is within the restricted airspace of the White Sands Missile Range. “The Park was completely supportive of our efforts, and helped arrange the necessary clearance into the airspace,” states Ron Chapple, Aerial Director of Photography. Pilot Coyt Bailey of Mercury Aviation then worked directly with Approach Control and the Air Force Base Tower to coordinate our entry into the Park.

“The National Parks are an amazing treasure,” observes Chapple, “and flying in White Sands was mesmerizing, the dunes and the sky just blend together in never ending patterns.” Working on the White Sands National Monument film adds to the growing collection of projects for the National Park Service. In the past 2 years, Aerial Filmworks has filmed in Grand Canyon, Death Valley, Devil’s Tower National Monument, The Statue of Liberty National Monument, Gulf Island National Seashore, and Arches National Park.

GPS Flight Track: Flying in Circles

Garmin GPS flight routes for every flight over the 2 day project.

We tracked every flight through the park. Each flight path is a different color, and will help us with accurate captioning of the clips when the material becomes available as stock footage. Sara Woodmansee in our Charlotte studio takes all our GPS data, then creates KML files for interactive viewing in Google Earth.

Coolest Jet A Fuel Truck

Alex Chapple (Still Photographer), Coyt Bailey (Pilot), Ron Chapple (Aerial Director of Photography), and Tim Dilworth (Director) gather with the 1946 Dodge Jet A fuel truck at the Alamogordo, New Mexico airport.

Ed’s Flying Service at the Alamogordo Airport took good care of us. They fueled our Bell 206L3 Long Ranger with a vintage 1946 Jet A truck at all hours of the day.

Aerial Filmworks filmed spectacular aerials of the Andes Mountains for a new History Channel documentary entitled “I Am Alive: Surviving the Andes Plane Crash“. Working out of Santiago, Chile, we rigged an Astar AS350-B3 helicopter and headed south for refueling before climbing into the mountains. While completely calm at the base, the winds escalated to 70 knots by the time the helicopter reached the location at 15,000 feet. Fortunately, the AS350-B3 is built for performance at high altitudes. The Cineflex V14HD camera system handled the extreme temperature drop without a problem. The installation was at a balmy 70 degrees at the hangar with the temperature dropping to 14 degrees at the summit.

The film “I Am Alive: Surviving the Andes Plane Crash” was produced by AMS Pictures, and premieres October 20 on the History Channel. The film chronicles the tragedy of Uruguayan Flight 571 and its aftermath through the eyes of survivor and hero Nando Parrado.

Ron Chapple was the Aerial Director of Photography and Cineflex Camera Operator, and Rebecca Giblin of Aerial Filmworks arranged for the international travel, export permits and US State Department licenses.

Sara Woodmansee hiked the Bright Angel trail twice in the past few months with a Canon 5DMII to create interactive 360 degree panoramas. Working in partnership with the Grand Canyon National Park, Ron Chapple Studios is producing and documenting the Canyon with HD aerial cinematography, high-resolution images and panoramas.

View our portfolio of Grand Canyon Panoramas.